74 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



the bird is on the water. Distance — for scoters keep well off 

 shore— adds to the difficulty of identifying species, but in a 

 good light the Velvet may be told by its superior size, the 

 broader band of orange on the bill, the white spot immediately 

 below the eye of the drake, and the two almost white patches, 

 one behind the eye and the other at the base of the bill, on 

 the face of the brown duck. In habits^ time of arrival' and 

 departure, and general behaviour, this bird differs little from 

 the Common Scoter, its frequent companion at sea. Pairs are 

 said to swim more together, but in the huge flocks of Common 

 Scoters, as in packs of Mallards, this marital constancy is Httle 

 evident until the birds rise, when the pairs often fly together ; 

 I have, however, seen Velvets fly in little parties. The flight 

 is quick and near the water, the grunting note very similar to 

 that of the other bird. Though very much a sea duck, I doubt 

 if there is much in the assertions, both of which are made, that 

 it is more, and less frequent on inland waters than *the Common 

 Scoter ; it is occasionally seen inland, and the fact that it has 

 been more often recorded may have given the idea of more 

 frequent occurrence, whilst its smaller numbers and conse- 

 quently rarer appearance have conveyed an erroneous impression 

 to others. Young and non-breeding birds, probably immature, 

 though the less glossy summer dress of old drakes is hard to 

 distinguish from that of nearly mature males, sometimes linger 

 through the summer off our northern shores. One point in 

 which it differs from the Common Scoter is that the plumage of 

 the young bird is not strikingly different from that of the duck. 

 The amount of yellow on the bill of the drake Common 

 Scoter varies considerably, but in the Velvet-Scoter the pattern 

 is different. Practically the bill is orange and red with the 

 basal knob black, and a black line running through the nostril 

 towards the light nail, where it meets the black line along the 

 edge of the upper mandible ; or we may say that the bill is black 

 with a central and two lateral patches. The bill of the duck 



